A touch of home for a day

Nina came yesterday around noon and left an hour ago.
We had a very sweet time.

When she came, we went straight to the dinning room to eat lunch, and then to the store (it's 30min away by car) to buy some things - you don't often get a chance to go to the store by car :)
We stopped at a pottery man's house on our way back and bought a pottery pumpkin, and a real pumpkin. Gotta love October!
It's Nina's birthday tomorrow so I gave her a present, and then we were just hanging out. She saw how our everyday is and what we do, how we live. It's a lot different than home, that's for sure.
We watched My Girl in the evening and then went to bed.
This morning we had an amazing brunch and then she left for home.

It was hard to say goodbye, we really are attached to each other, but I'll probably see her in 2 weeks (me and my schoolmates may come to Slovenia for a weekend), and the semester ends in a month.
It's good we have a good relatinship but that makes it hard when you have to say goodbye.

There's more book reports and projects ahead of me (I'm so thankful it's only Saturday). I'm trying to get advanced because the next few weeks are going to be crazy!
Next week is one of the block weeks (there's only 1 class going on for the whole week; 3 sessions per day), we'll have a class of Biblical Missions. I'm super excited but it's going to be a lot of work. After that we have 1 normal week and then Speakers' week, which is intense as well.

Good stuff and God is speaking :)

Back home

We survived our 10-day and got back home safely!

I still didn't process everything but it was a lot different than what we expected. We weren't doing any physical work – we only talked to people and taught English. It was stretchy for most of our team since we’re mostly introverts; Serbians love to hug and kiss (on cheeks), and talking all day long really drained us out BUT we are able to see the fruit in the church, and we’re able to see how God used each of us, what we learned and what came out of everything.

Thank you for all your prayers!

 Sightseeing Subotica

 Left: Danny&Wendy, former students of CCBCE, now missionaries in Subotica

We also ate chestnuts :)

 Fast food palačinke :)

 The synagogue

 The cathedral

 The city hall

 A street in Subotica

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It feels really good to be back at the castle even though I’m going to miss Subotica and people there.
We’re in our first block week (there’s Inductive Bible Study class going on for the whole week). I’m not taking this class since I took it my first semester so I have more time to work on other assignments.

I’ll also be praying a lot. God hasn’t been speaking about what’s the next step and while on outreach, I got a good advice – take a step, start researching + getting ready for where I would want to go, and if God closes those doors, it means I need to go somewhere else and do something else.

I’ll be praying and fasting this week, listening to His guidance. I have an idea what I would want to do next. I’m not sure if He’s giving me a choice and a free will to choose but I need to seek Him and have more fellowship with Him. Would you be praying with me? It’s hard because it’s a big decision and I don’t want to do something out of His will, I’m always scared of that. Thankfully He always convicts me if I’m doing something out of my own will :)

Also, my sister’s coming to visit me for 2 days!! She’s coming on Thursday night and will be staying until Saturday afternoon! I’m super excited and can’t wait for her to come! She’ll be able to see how I live here and she’ll taste a bit of the Bible College lifestyle. We’ll have lots of fun :) 

 Back in 2009... :)

Just a good month left and I’ll be heading home! It’s going super fast!

It finally came - 10 day outreach to Serbia

10-day outreaches are finally here!

I'm in a team of 6 (+ a 5-year old Gabby), and we're leaving for Serbia on Friday afternoon. God was so good to us that we going to drive with a family that's studying here (they have a big van), and we don't have to go with a bus or train. I'm excited + also a bit scared of the 10-day with a team I don't really know; I only know the leaders (which is the most important thing).

We don't have a lot on our agenda. We're arriving on Friday afternoon and all we're going to do that night is to get registered. That's required for anyone who comes to Serbia because they want to know who you are and how long you're going to stay there. They also give you a small card with that info and you have to have it in your passport on your way out of the country; if you don't, you're in trouble.

Saturday and Sunday are reserved for street evangelizing (we learned the Set me free skit), for promoting English camp (that's going to be during the week) and for sightseeing. It means we need to be flexible which I'm usually not. I'm a task oriented person, loving the rules, love having a plan. It's going to be stretchy and good, but that's definitely one of the areas you can pray for since I know it's not going to be easy.

From Monday to Friday we're going to be a part of an English Camp. It's a 2 week camp and we're joining the second week. There's 180 people that signed up for it, and a team from Bosnia is there already, running the camp and helping.
I'm not sure how the camp is going to look like. They told us we're going to be preparing English lessons each morning, and then have English Camp from 2-9pm. I guess we'll find out the details when we get there. 

We'll be returning back to Hungary on Saturday evening (Oct 22), a day before everyone else which will be a good time to use for some homework :)

I'm excited I understand a lot of Serbian, and that I'm learning Serbian now in order to communicate in any way. I also learned John 3:16 in Serbian; it's a lot similar to Slovene.
I don't feel as prepared as I did last semester but that was different because we were going to my home country.

Prayer requests:
- unity (people on the team by name: Gus, Shaunice, Gabby, Rachel, Clemens, Brittany, Mana)
- flexibility (dependance on the Holy Spirit, following His orders, being ready to do whatever)
- servant's hearts (we're going to serve, not to be served - "And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." - Matt 20:27-28)
- open hearts of people
- words from the Holy Spirit when we evangelize
- that any kind of fear would be replaced by peace that can only come from God
- that our hearts would be open to receive, and that God would speak

Thank you so much for your support and prayers! If I can, I'll update blog during the outreach; otherwise after I come back, including pictures!

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace." - Acts 20:24

He is faithful to speak

I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal things lately, and God answered my prayer and spoke to me one morning when I was having my devotions. I’ve been reading Proverbs, and that morning I read Proverbs 3. 

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“Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

Then you will win favor and a good name

in the sight of God and man.”

- Proverbs 3:3-4

I’ve been thinking and asking God how do I please men and Him at the same time, and if that’s even possible. The verse from Galatians 1:10 kept coming up (“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”) and I didn’t want to just please men; I actually wanted to please God first.

He was faithful to answer; if I have love and faithfulness (in other translations is mercy and truth), then I will win the favor of God and man!

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“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline

and do not resent his rebuke,

because the LORD disciplines those he loves,

as a father and he punishes the son he delights in.”

- Proverbs 3:11-12

He’s been disciplining me, showing me what I’m doing wrong, correcting me, and it’s not easy! It hurts, especially because I know He’s right! BUT He let me know why He does it; because He loves me. It’s a parent/child relationship, and I’m thankful for it. But it’s certainly not easy.

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“When you lie down, you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Have no fear of sudden disaster

or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

for the LORD will be your confidence

and will keep your foot from being snared.”

- Proverbs 3:24-26

I wrote about my problem with bugs… they really do freak me out and it becomes a mental thing because I keep thinking and feeling like they’re on me and I’m getting bitten.

It was a great encouragement to get these verses in the morning because I found out later that day that we’re moving back into our room (after one day even though it says to stay away for longer), and I had really hard time dealing with it. God really spoke specifically, saying that when I lie down, I will not be afraid and my sleep will be sleep. It’s been 4 days since that day and I’m still having hard time sleeping. I’m having a bunch of nightmares or some kinds of dreams, and I memorized this verse so I keep repeating it to myself when I go to bed.

But He is faithful to speak and He takes care of me. I love it.

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“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,

when it is in your power to act.”

Do not accuse a man for no reason –

when he has done you no harm.”

- Proverbs 3:26, 30

It hurt me when I read this because God really showed me I was treating my roommates wrong. It’s always so hard to be convicted but it’s amazing because it humbles you completely because you know it’s directly from Him. You know what I mean? If my best friend would tell me that I’ve been doing that, I would get completely offended, hurt + pride and judgment would come out. When God spoke, respect and humility came. He even gave us all as a room to talk about things and it changed relationships in our room.

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At the end, He spoke one more thing:

“He mocks proud mockers

but gives grace to the humble.”

- Proverbs 3:34

As long as I’ll be proud, He’ll mock me (and I don’t really know how to accept that). But if I hear His voice when He tells me I’m doing something wrong, as long as I obey and humble myself (not just to Him but to others as well), He’ll give me grace.

It sounds so easy but it’s much harder than we imagine.

I’m still grateful for each word He spoke and I’m always amazed when He speaks with such clarity, through written Scriptures, and very specifically!

What can I say?  
He is our God Most High, Blessed Redeemer, The Holy One, Almighty, my Lord, my Savior!

Back To The Beginning

"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."
- Revelation 2:4-5

Remember when you first came to faith in Jesus Christ? What a joy it was to pray. You never knew that you could talk to God, and you realized that you could call on Him wherever you were, no matter what you were facing. Prayer was a privilege, and you utilized it.

Then there was the Bible. Now you had the Book that told you how to live your life and, most importantly, told you how to get to heaven.

And church? You couldn't wait to get to church. You would go to a weekend service, a midweek service, and maybe even another service. You would listen to Bible teaching on the radio. You would read Christian books. You couldn't get enough in your life.

Sharing your faith was easy. It was the overflow of a Christ-filled life. You were always looking for opportunities to talk to someone about Jesus.

You still study the Bible now, but not as much as you once did. After all, you are not so sure you will read anything that you haven't read before. You will get to it if you find time in your busy schedule.

Prayer is not so much a time of talking with God as much as it is a quick prayer here and there. And sure, you still go to church. In fact, you sit in the same place every Sunday. But if the pastor goes over his allotted time, you are not happy.

You still share your faith—once in awhile. But now, rather than having a conversation about your faith, you feel as though people should simply look at your example as a follower of Jesus.

Have you left your first love? It can happen so easily. Go back and do the things you did at first.

By Greg Laurie

So convicting.

The surprises of a normal day

There's not much going on at school but God is doing things in our hearts.

Each semester is different, and so is this one.

The first 2 weeks were amazing for me; my relationship with Jesus was sweet, open and loving, and I spent most of my days with Him. The school work started and life got a bit more complicated, and that affected my relationship with Jesus.

God’s been showing me my pride a lot, and I’m almost disgusted to see how prideful I can get. We all are, I know that, but I’m glad He’s been showing me the dark side of my heart because now He can humble me enough to change it and make it pure, light and loving.

He’s also surprising me with some things I don’t exactly know what to think about.

I found some bug bites on my left thigh and thought it’s spider that’s biting me, so I checked behind + under my bed to kill it. I didn’t find a spider but I did find some kind of tiny bugs. I killed them but they kept coming, and I kept being bitten. I talked to some people at school and realized they’re probably fleas, even though I don’t know how we got them. I googled them (and I shouldn’t have done that because I found out too many things) and bought some stuff for it. Then I moved my mattress (and I’ve been sleeping in the sick room for a couple of days now), washed + dried all of my clothes, and I’ve been cleaning my bed and floor and carpet every day now. It takes me at least half an hour but I haven’t seen any bugs for 2 days now. Hopefully I got rid of them. I’m not sure how long I’m suppose to clean and spray it for. Do you know anything about fleas? Someone said they may be chiggers but I don’t even want to think about those (they go under your skin and bite you). Bugs are light brown and hard to see but I can still see them on the wall, they jump and there’s not a lot of them (I only found around 10 or 15 of them).

I’m not sure what lesson behind this trial is but fear came out even though I wasn’t scared of fleas before. Is God trying to strengthen my faith? I know He’s Almighty and He can get rid of the bugs in a split second… but why isn’t He? What would He like me to learn? What is this preparation for? Is He going to send me somewhere where there are a lot of bugs and I need to get rid of the fear now?

I’d love it if you would pray for Jesus to remove the bugs, for my fear of them and for His comfort and peace to dwell in my heart. I’ve also been having bad and disturbing dreams, connected to my past, and I’m not sleeping well. There’s a lot of discouragement present as well. We moved my whole room into another room, called “sick room” (for people who get sick) and 3 roommates have been sleeping at pastor’s house, one in another room, and only 2 of us in the sick room. It seems like the enemy is trying to bring division and he’s successful on some parts.

We leave for our 10-day outreaches next Friday, and I’m super excited! We’re in contact with people in Serbia, and they told us we’re going to be a part of an English camp during the week, and over 100 people applied! The church there is experiencing a lot of opposition and that’s a good sign – Satan doesn’t want things to happen because he knows the Light is shinning and drawing people out of the darkness!

I’d love to hear updates of your life as well – sometimes I feel like I live on the other side of the world when I’m only 4 hours away. Let me know how you’re doing, what God’s been doing in your heart and how I can pray for you!

I’ll be trying to update my blog soon again. Until then…

“So I think we should get as much out of life as we possibly can. There is nothing better than to enjoy our food and drink and to have a good time. Then we can make it through this troublesome life that God has given us here on earth.” – Ecclesiastes 8:15

“Work hard at whatever you do. You will soon go to the world of the dead, where no one works or thinks or reasons or knows anything.” – Ecclesiastes 9:10